Spreading Nigerian Violence Draws Military to Policing Role
- President Buhari approves $1 Billion in weapons purchases
- Nigeria must avoid Somalia-like crisis: presidential spokesman
Photographer: Florian Plaucheur/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
It’s a common scene along Nigeria’s main roads -- barriers stopping cars, machine-gunners poised behind sandbags and stern-looking soldiers checking vehicle trunks and scrutinizing the faces of passengers.
While soldiers held power for 29 years and have always played an internal security role in Nigeria, their deployment has surged since former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari won the presidency in 2015. Operating in all 36 states, they’re dealing with a range of crises: Islamist militant attacks in the northeast, simmering unrest in the oil-producing Niger River delta, conflict between crop farmers and herders and widespread robberies and kidnapping.